


A Royal's Duty

by BastedDuck



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Jon Snow Has Dragons, Jon Snow is Not Called Aegon, Jon Snow is a Targaryen, King Rhaegar Targaryen, Politics, R Plus L Equals J
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:01:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23486485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BastedDuck/pseuds/BastedDuck
Summary: Jon Snow is living in the north with his cousins at Winterfell when he is called back to the capital by his father, King Rhaegar Targaryen, in order for him to officially take up his royal duties and become a true member of the royal family, will he become the prince that Westeros has needed all this time.
Relationships: Jon Snow &, Jon Snow & Arya Stark, Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow/Margaery Tyrell, Jon Snow/Rhaenys Targaryen (Daughter of Elia)
Comments: 29
Kudos: 157





	A Royal's Duty

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, sorry for the shitty summary, this is my second work, my first was a bit of a flop and was written badly, i hope this is a bit better. Let me know what you think in the comments as well as criticism and suggestions. Hope all of you are okay, quarantined or not, hope this makes it a tiny bit more bearable!

** 301 AC – Winterfell **

Jon sat in the solar of Eddard Stark humming impatiently. Robb sat next to him, his feet planted firmly on the floor, occasionally kicking the legs of the strong oak chair beneath him. They had been waiting for five minutes so far and there was no sign of Ned or even Vayon.

“Why are we here?” Jon queried Rob with an annoyed look on his face. He would have preferred to use his remaining time at Winterfell with his cousins or sparring with Ser Roderik.

“Probably to do with the royal visit, knowing father, probably something about behaviour.”

Jon sighed, fated to listen to the etiquette lesson once again, all of them had gone over it with Lady Stark and the Septa at least twelve times already. Even as the second in line to the throne he still had to learn how to bow to his father and older brother, Jon found it wholly unnecessary and extremely tedious. Of course Sansa and Jeyne were ecstatic and had been practicing their courtesy repeatedly since the raven arrived a moon ago.

Jon finished his pondering as the large solar door swung open, Eddard Stark’s boots thundering against the stone floor bringing the two boys attention to their father or uncle. Vayon Poole followed closely behind with Jory Cassell being the one to bring up the rear and close the door. The Warden of the North seated himself behind his desk and took a minute to look through the various papers that littered the oak table before turning to his son and nephew.

“Robb, Jon” he acknowledged, nodding his head.

“Father”

“Uncle” the two replied in situ. Ned breathed out for a second and collected his thoughts, and shot a sad smile at Jon who frowned at the expression.

“We don’t have much time before we have to leave for the deserter, but this came for you Jon, I cant say it was unexpected but a shame nonetheless.” Eddard handed him a curled up sheet of parchment that had clearly been wrapped around a raven’s foot. Jon hesitantly unfolded the piece of paper, knowing full well what was written on it.

_By the decree of His Grace Rhaegar Targaryen, king of the seven kingdoms, following the acceptance of the royal visit to Winterfell, the king will return to kings landing after his trip with his second son Daemon “Jon” Targaryen by his side in order for said son to take up his royal duties in Kings Landing. Thus concluding his third stay at Winterfell._

Jon frowned deeply, his father wanted him back, after three years he was to return to the rat’s nest that was the capital. He read it out loud for Robb’s sake who slammed his fist against his father’s desk.

“Horse shit,” Robb said angrily “You can deny him right?” Directing his question to both his father and his cousin. Eddard shook his head solemnly and Jon shrugged, mostly for his cousins sake, he knew however there was no denying his father.

“Who does he think he is, he can’t just take you from us” Robb continued ranting “fucking..”

Eddard cut him off, “Robb” he scorned “Unfortunately, it is the kings prerogative and it seems that he is using it.” Robb huffed, knowing there was no point in arguing. Jon in a similar way had stopped questioning it and had come to an acceptance.

“Should I tell everyone?” Jon asked his uncle who simply nodded and brushed a hand through his long hair. “Is this all we were asked here for?” His uncle shook his head.

“There have been some changes to the royal schedule, Rhaegar will arrive in three sennight’s time, stay for three more and then the main party will travel back to kings landing with the king breaking off and making his way to the wall, he will then proceed to journey to east watch and sail back to kings landing.” Jon frowned.

“That seems an odd detour.” Robb beat Jon to it.

“It is, I cannot speak for the king’s reasoning but I assume we will find out when he arrives, Jon, you can go, pack your things we ride in two hours, fetch Bran as well. Robb you stay, we need to have a discussion about behaviour” Pausing for a moment before glancing to Vayon, “and Jeyne.” That made Jon smile and Robb scowl. Jon had caught the young lovers exchanging kisses and touches many a time, surprised Robb’s Lord Father had only just caught on. They were not exactly discreet, Jon having found them behind the kitchen only that morning.

Jon stood and opened the large door that his uncle had come through not ten minutes ago. He nodded to Jory as he passed and the guard nodded and smiled back. He took the stairs next to the solar door down into the family wing and into his room. The room was a mess with different letters and drawings strewn over the table and floor, the four poster bed was unmade and the expensive bear skin blanket lay crumpled on the ground. Jon launched himself onto the feather mattress and closed his eyes, before remembering what his uncle just said. He started rummaging through his drawers and started to pack a leather sack with essentials.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours later Jon was clipping the sack onto the side of his black warhorse Shadow. Ned was still arguing with Catelyn about Bran, she seemed hesitant to send her son to watch his first execution, Ned seemed to be winning the argument, finally getting his wife to relent and allowing Bran to make the journey. Robb had clearly been scorned and was huffing and furrowing his brow as he sat atop his mare. Ser Roderik helped Bran onto his pony and then mounted his own steed. Ned said goodbye to his wife with a small pert kiss and ruffled Rickon’s hair who was being supported against his mother’s hip. He then proceeded toward the group and in a swift motion mounted. Jon smiled at the little boy who had been born during his stay and had grown into a toddler since then. Rickon waved back, Jon was sure that he would not understand that he was leaving, he was probably already wholly confused with everyone scrambling around preparing for the royal visit. What Jon would give to be his age again.

The group set off at a pace and moved onto the kings road. It would be a full day’s ride west before they reached their destination so he thought he would make a start on breaking his departure to his friends and family. About two hours in Robb had cheered up and he and Jon had been joking around with Jory during their ride through the great forest.

Jon spurred his horse to a canter and moved up next to Bran, he looked down at his little cousin happily bouncing along and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Can we talk?” Jon enquired,

“Yep,” Bran beamed back at Jon, bringing a smile to the princes face.

After telling Bran the news he had seemed crestfallen for a while before somewhat recovering after Jon told him that it wouldn’t mean they would not see each other and after Jon said he would ask Ser Barristan if Bran could squire for him, which made the twelve year old very excited. That was three people of the family who knew. There was only Lady Stark, Rickon, Sansa, and Arya who needed to be informed, he was worried about that last one, he was afraid she would do something rash like stowaway in the royal carriages to stay with him. He wouldn’t put it past Arya. Before he knew it they had arrived at open field where the prisoner was waiting for the party.

He was a scraggly man, quite skinny and short, with the cloak of the nights watch wrapped around his shoulders. A deserter, Jon thought. In the middle of the field stood a tree stump that had a trench carved into it’s centre. Jon had witnessed countless executions, not only in the North but also in the Capital with his father and brother. Only in the North however had he ever killed anyone himself. Eddard Stark believed that the man who passed the sentence should swing the sword, as all sentences were passed technically by the king of the seven kingdoms, while he was currently indisposed it was assigned to those usually closest to him, normally the warden or vassal lords. However as a prince, Jon was closer to the king. As soon as Eddard had deemed him old enough he had been passing the sentences.

He pulled Dark Sister out of the scabbard on the side of his horse, the sword that was gifted to him on his fourteenth nameday by his father, he remembered seeing Aegon’s face go green with jealousy before changing to sheer happiness for his brother who now had a Valerian Steel blade of his own to match Blackfyre which had previously been given to the heir.

The deserter was lead to the stump where he was placed on his knees. “Any last words?” Jon asked the man. The man gulped and nodded. Jon signalled him to speak.

“I…. I saw them, I saw them beyond the wall, they killed my friends, they… the others, I saw them…. You have to believe me..” Jon was taken back for a moment before nodding to the two men restraining him, they pushed his head down into the stump and Jon readied his blade.

“In the name of his grace Rhaegar Targaryen first of his name, king of the seven kingdoms, king of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the first men, I Daemon Targaryen, prince of Summerhall, sentence you to die.”

A single strike was all it took for Jon to relieve the man of his head, it clunked onto the dirt with a dull thud. Blood spurted out of the empty space where his neck was. Bran seemed shocked standing next to his father, who had his hand on his shoulder. Robb looked unfazed by the execution and after a few seconds everyone else returned to normal and the crowd dispersed. The man’s body and head were taken away by the men who had met them at the stand. Jon walked back toward his horse and grabbed a rag from the side of his saddle. He quickly wiped it down and returned the purple blade to it’s sheath. The group mounted their horses once again.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They were making their way back to Winterfell, having camped for the night in a clearing. Jon was once again conversing with Robb when they heard a shout from up ahead. They proceeded up to where the commotion was happening. Sat there was a large beast, caked in blood from a stab wound in it’s neck. Eddard Stark was inspecting the corpse and pulled a bit of antler out of the neck of the animal.

“Direwolf!” Robb exclaimed, Ned nodded.

“It shouldn’t be here, they haven’t been seen this side of the wall for years.” Jory mentioned while kneeling down next to the oversized wolf.

“Are those… pups?” Bran said pointing at the other side of the wolf, Jory moved around the other side, picking one up.

“So they are.” Jory confirmed. “They wont survive long out here.” He counted them briefly, “Five of them, they wont make it, we should kill them, the kindest thing to do.” Bran became visibly sad.

“No…. can we keep them.” Bran exclaimed, horrified at the thought of killing the pups. “Please.” He added, looking toward his father.

“They are no pets Bran, Jory is right, it is a kindness.” Eddard replied. Bran looked toward Jon and Robb. The prince saw his cousins eyes and, after deliberation, interrupted.

“Uncle, the direwolf is the symbol of your house, it is a message, you have five children, there are five pups, one for each.” Jon rationalised. Eddard Stark sighed and signalled Jory to put his dirk away.

“The kennel master’s bitch has just had pups, she will have enough milk to feed them.” Roderik Cassel offered.

“Fine, they are yours to keep, you will train them yourselves, you will feed them yourselves and if they die, you will bury them yourselves.” Eddard warned, grabbing the pups and handing two to Bran, two to Robb and one to Jon.

Out of the corner of his eye Jon saw a white furball moving away down the bank from where the direwolf lay. He rushed over to get it. “There’s a sixth!” Jon admired the pup, it was snow white with red pupils, an albino, he felt immediately attached to the wolf. “This one is mine.”

The rest of the ride back was peaceful and without stop, they rode up through winter’s town and toward winterfell once again, where they were greeted by Lady Stark, Rickon and Arya. After dismounting, Jon fetched the two pups from his bag and set his on the ground, allowing it to sniff around his foot before feeding it a bit of jerky he had taken from his sack. Arya had rushed over to the little animal and was inspecting it and lightly stroking it.

“Here, you have one aswell,” he handed the other one over to Arya who squealed and hugged the direwolf pup close. “Think of a good name!” Jon smiled at her. He had yet to tell her that he was leaving, but he supposed it could wait until dinner. Robb was getting scorned by his mother who had been displeased when her youngest child had been handed a wild animal already half the toddler’s size.”

“They are dangerous Robb!” Robb sighed and presented his own to his mother and gestured toward Jon and Arya.

“Not with the proper training, at least not to their owner” Robb argued back. Smiling at his mother, who eventually had given in and had gone over to scorn Ned. Bran had gone off to go and find Sansa to give her a pup.

Jon wandered into the castle and into his room, intending to get a nap before dinner as the day’s riding had worn him out, he collapsed onto his bed and after adjusting a pillow or two, fell into a deep slumber.

**Author's Note:**

> That was the first chapter, a bit short I know, but don't worry, chapter 2 is looking to be about 8000 words if not more, so should flesh out the story a bit. Seeya


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